Revisit Morley Safer’s Seminal Reporting From the Vietnam War

Share

Veteran reporter Morley Safer died today at the age of 84, just a week after announcing his retirement from CBS. Safer got his breakthrough as a correspondent on the network during the Vietnam War, where he was tasked with reporting on the burning of the village of Cam Ne by U.S. Marines. Due to the negative portrayal of the military, the televised report ending up serving as a major turning point in the American public’s opinion of the war. “Today’s operation is the frustration of Vietnam in miniature,” Safer reported in August 1965. “There’s little doubt that American firepower can win a military victory here. But to a Vietnamese peasant whose home means a lifetime of back-breaking labor, it’ll take more than presidential promises to convince him that we are on his side.” Watch the report here.